The Hooper Ratings
The Hooper Ratings are the ratings system used for ratings for all the major television ratings. The ratings system gets it's name from the former C.E. Hooper Company which did a ratings system for radio and television during the "Golden Age" of radio before the Hooper company was bought out by it's competitor A.C. Nielsen. History C.E. Hooper The C. E. Hooper Company was an American company which measured radio and television ratings during the "Golden Age" of radio. Founded in 1934 by Claude E. Hooper (1898-1954), the company provided information on the most popular radio shows of the era. Claude E. Hooper became well known for his radio audience measurement systems, Hooper Ratings or "Hooperatings". Before beginning work in radio measurement, Hooper was an auditor of magazine circulation. Hooper worked within the market research organization of Daniel Starch until 1934 when he left to start a research company with colleague Montgomery Clark, Clark-Hooper; in the fall of 1934 the company launched syndicated radio measurement services in 16 cities. Clark left the business in 1938 and Hooper continued the firm as C. E. Hooper, Inc. The survey method employed by Hooper was designed with the help of George Gallup whose input Hooper later acknowledged as key. It differed from the method being used by the advertising industry service, the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting (CAB); in particular, Clark-Hooper's method involved contacting listeners during the shows being analyzed as opposed to the following day. In the industry, the method was dubbed "telephone coincidence"; it superseded CAB's earlier method ("telephone recall") as the industry standard, and Hooper's prevalence eventually led to the 1946 dissolution of CAB. In 1948, as the radio networks began venturing into television, Hooper began measuring TV ratings as well. In February 1950, the company was bought by competitor A.C. Nielsen. Hansen vs. Hooper In 1960, Hansen Media International was launched and they start doing the Hansen ratings. In 1980, Hansen had competition when AC Hooper Media Research was launched and brought back the Hooper Ratings. For about 18 years, the two ratings collided. Finally in 1998, AC Hooper Research and Hansen Media International agreed to merge and has since been recognized under the Hooper system. Measuring Ratings Hooper television ratings are gathered in one of two ways: # Viewer "diaries," in which a target audience self-records its viewing or listening habits. By targeting various demographics, the assembled statistical models provide a rendering of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour. # A more technologically sophisticated system uses Set Meters, which are small devices connected to televisions in selected homes. These devices gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit the information nightly to Nielsen through a "Home Unit" connected to a phone line. The technology-based home unit system is meant to allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their television set. In addition to set meters, individual viewer reporting devices, such as people meters, have allowed the company to separate household viewing information into various demographic groups. Changing systems of viewing have impacted Hooper's methods of market research. In 2005, Hooper began measuring the usage of digital video recording devices such as TiVos. Initial results indicated that time-shifted viewing will have a significant impact on television ratings. A year later, the networks were not yet figuring these new results into their ad rates because of the resistance of advertisers. Ratings/share and total viewers The most commonly cited Hooper results are reported in two measurements: ratings points and share, usually reported as: "ratings points/share." There are 119.6 million TV homes in the U.S. for the 2017-18 TV season The number of persons age 2 and older in U.S. TV Households is estimated to be 304.5 million. A single national ratings point represents 1% of the total number. Hooper re-estimates the number of television-equipped households each August for the upcoming television season. Share is the percentage of television sets in use that are tuned to the program. For example, Hooper may report a show as receiving a 9.2/15 during its broadcast; this would mean that out of all television-equipped households, 9.2% were tuned in to that program, and out of all television-equipped households with a television currently in use, 15% were tuned in to that program. Because ratings are based on samples, it is possible for shows to get a 0.0 rating, despite having an audience. Demographics Hooper also provides statistics on specific demographics as advertising rates are influenced by such factors as age, gender, race, economic class, and area. Younger viewers are considered more attractive for many products, whereas in some cases older and wealthier audiences are desired, or female audiences are desired over males. In general, the number of viewers within the 18–49 age range is more important than the total number of viewers. Commercial ratings Hooper also provides viewership data calculated as the average viewership for only the commercial time within the program. Sweeps Electronic metering technology is the heart of the Hooper ratings process. Two types of meters are used: set meters capture what channel is being tuned, while People Meters go a step further and gather information about who is watching the channel at that time. Diaries are also used to collect viewing information from sample homes in many television markets in the United States, and smaller markets are measured by paper diaries only.Each year, Hooper processes approximately two million paper diaries from households across the country, for the months of November, February, May and July—also known as the "sweeps" rating periods. The term "sweeps" dates from 1954, when Nielsen collected diaries from households in the Eastern United States first; from there they would "sweep" west. Seven-day diaries (or eight-day diaries in homes with DVRs) are mailed to homes to keep a tally of what is watched on each television set and by whom. Over the course of a sweeps period, diaries are mailed to a new panel of homes each week. At the end of the month, all of the viewing data from the individual weeks is aggregated. This local viewing information provides a basis for program scheduling and advertising decisions for local television stations, cable systems, and advertisers. Typically, the November, February and May sweeps are considered more important; nevertheless, the July sweeps can have local impact in regard to personnel. In some of the mid-size markets, diaries provide viewer information for up to two additional "sweeps" months (October and January). Top-Rated Programs in the U.S. Television Network Ratings by Year